Do you want to explore the digital powerhouse and define how to browse the website through extracting data? Google is more than a search engine. Its power lies in the search result data.
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Google has advanced and today is not just looked at as the search engine; instead, it is a digital powerhouse with plenty of things and resources. The product of google defines how users surf online. This means everything on google lies in the search results. Hence, there is a need to learn how to extract such data for various uses in on-site optimization, to mention.
However, scraping google search results is challenging today. Though it is worth trying and giving it all, you can. The research is vital, especially in the marketing campaign, SEO, setting up an ec0mmerce site, or building a better brand. But, there are multiple methods of approaching the process.
Therefore, because of the need, in our article, we will cover broader methods on how to scrape google search results effectively. We will also be giving you the best hand on examples to showcase the method.
Without further ado, let us get started by looking deeply at what encompasses google search scraping.
About Google Search Scraping
The first thing to understand in this article is to start by defining google search scraping. Google search scraping, sometimes also referred to as web scraping, is simply the automated method of collecting data from the internet. You should be aware of the term automated in the definition s.
This involves using proxies to automate the process. Without proxies, you must be willing to write down everything manually, which does not make sense in web scraping. Elsewhere, you can use the software, which is scrapers or sometimes called crawlers, to scrape data on a large scale.
Additionally, the search scraping involves automation-driven URLs collection as well as a collection of the relevant data and descriptions. We all understand that there are millions of google users around the world. So, with google, you have access to unique customer behavior from different parts of the world. And on google information, you have access to a giant encyclopedia of everything consisting the commerce.
Companies are now investing in scarping google SERPs to advance their brands to a different audience. Besides using the information on search engine optimization, other firms intend to use the data they analyze the market trends where it reflects the customers’ behaviors and finds ways to meet their demands. Also, you can use the result to monitor the competitors as you know the ranking reflects the weakness and strangeness of the competition.
This is the reason you need to learn how to scrape google results. It leads us to the next section and goes step-by-step procedure to guide you. Read along with us.
How to Scrape Google Search Results?
1. Use Browser Extensions
From our understanding, the browser extension is the simple method to begin web scraping the google search. However, you must add the extension to the browser first to get started. After that, the rest of the procedure is similar to the visual scraper tool, in which you only need to point to, click on the target page, and download the data to your device.
These browser extensions tend to be unique but mighty as they are not limited to the form-filling actions but are also compatible with JS and pagination.
Therefore, in a place where you are targeting to have fast and efficient data from google, consider using the scraping browser extension. They are perfect as your starting point for google search scraping because of their simplicity.
It gives users advanced JS rendering; hence you can have dynamic content from the target site. It is optimal for small-scale data scraping projects where users do not have coding skills. Some of the extensions include such as Linkclump.
You understand that web carping is legal, but how you scrap data can be illegal, and again, terms of service; hence,e be aware of IP blocks. Otherwise, follow the below procedure to scrape google search results using a browser extension:
Step 1: First, launch the browser, download the Linkclump extension for the Chrome browser and install it.
Step 2: Then start by adjusting the extensions settings and ensure you have it set at ‘ copy to clipboard
Step 3: Then launch the spreadsheet
Step 4: Proceed to search for the keywords term
Step 5: Then, when done, right-click and drag to the links you have selected
Step 6: Then paste the links to your spreadsheet
Step 7: Head back and proceed with the next page as well to search for the result
Step 8: then rinse and repeat the same process. It looks super easy but has excellent results to help you make the next move. If it does not live to satisfy all your needs, then proceed with the next method.
2. Use Visual Web Scrapers
As mentioned earlier, the visual web scraper works as a browser extension but extracts search results from the internet without coding skills or experience. They present the users with a browser window from which you can point to the target site consisting of the data and then download it in a different format based on your requirement and preferences.
The challenging steps in creating an excellent workflow when it comes to the pagination as well as the action loops. However, when you compare it with the code, it is still simpler. This method is perfect when you need moderate and small data and do not have coding experience.
The process has the same upside and downsides as a browser extension. The tools are downloaded and installed on the desktop as independent software. Still, they have a simple working workflow though challenging to process the target pages, especially when they have non-standard structures.
3. Use Data Collection Services
As per the research online and use cases, the data collection service is the often preferred method of scraping data from the google search. With a specific budget, you only need to specify the requirements.
Then, in the shortest time, you will have access to the detailed and formatted information ready for any subsequent usage. That is everything it takes as there is no need to create and maintain a data scraper or tool or even have the at]data scraping logic.
The only thing that needs you to get worried about is the budget. Since this is the simplest and most often sued method, in most cases is preferred to utilize in the mid-project to the large scape data scraping projects where the users have a budget for the processes but are not willing to have a dedicated web scraper or scraping logic.
It is among the best google search result scraping alternatives as long as you set the much-needed deadline. Most people outsource the managerial and technical challenges o the data collection services firms such as Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub) and Bright Data but have a substantial fee.
4. Use a SERP API
The next advanced method to help you scrape google search results is to use the SERP API. Before you go into the detailed coding, you can try using the SERP PI, which is a small web scraping tool to handle everything related to the web scraping logic.
This is also a good option as you must get a ready-made tool instead of a string from scratch. The only thing you have to do here is to get the SERP API tool and feeds it with the relevant parameters as keywords, then download the data to the database for access.
In this method, there is no need to use the proxies, no need for parsing or experiencing the captchas as everything is haled using the API. There are many SERPs API tools online,e such as Smartproxy‘s SERP Scraping API, SERPMaster, and Apify.
However, most users prefer using the SERTSMaster because of the simplicity and low pricing factors. The tool is compatible with different data extraction methods and guarantees real-time results over an open connection. You can also count it on the callback to retrieve the data needed from the webhook.
When you compare the tools, you can conclude that all of them guarantee the simple parameter payloads, capability to loop pagination, out the file as a JSON file, and you can set the SERTMster only when you have the login details.
For the sake of the illustration on how to use the SERP API in scraping google search results, we will use the Smasrtproxy. Once you make a choice, follow the below procedure:
- You first need to visit the smart proxy website and sign up to access the site’s dashboard.
- After that, be patient with the verification mail to the inbox. Then tap on the verification link and confirm the sign-up email to explore the dashboard.
- Then from the dashboard, locate the SERP menu, which is found on the left-hand side,e user the scraping PAI, and head to the pricing section. Select the right plan that meets all your needs.No need to worry about payment as the monthly plans are recurrent and are charged automatically; hence, there is a need to manage every task.
- However, they can upgrade, cancel and even downgrade from one plan to another anytime you feel like it. The good thing with this SERP API provider is that when the tool does not give you all the needs, you can cancel anytime and guarantee money back within 3 days.
- This next step is where you need some coding knowledge, but it is easier. On the python interpreter, you need some coding with simple syntax. When python is not your area, you can select a different language from the menu or write the codes in the terminal using Linux or mac desktop.
- You can utilize the company prompts for windows and users, and for each type of programming language you prefer, you need different coding. When you are using python, here is an excellent example of the code.
import requests
url = "https://scrape.smartproxy.com/v1/tasks"
payload = {
"target": "google_search",
"query": "proxy faq",
"parse": True
"locale": "en-GB",
"google_results_language": "en",
"geo": "London, England, United Kingdom"
}
headers = { "Authorization": "Basic cHJdeHI3YXv6U1Bwcm94rXdhtTE=",
"Accept": "application/json"
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
response = requests.request("POST", url, json-payload, headers=headers)
print(response.text)
For the above case, remember that the URL is the same that is https://scrape.smartproxy.com/v1/tasks, and there is nothing you have to change here. Instead, copy then paste to the python interpreter. Then you can write the ‘google-search’ in the target line when your target is the organic search on google.
There are multiple targets on google since it is multifaceted. From the above query parameter, it is clear that you will write using the google search bar. For this case, it is the ‘proxy faq’, and when you move ahead to write ‘true,’ it means you have specified the parsing method; hence your results will automatically be parsed through the JSON, but for the HTML, you must leave it blank.
You can use the locate parameter to adjust the interface language, not for the result for the google search website. Then result in language specifies the language in which you need to obtain the search results. After that, geo options help you to pinpoint the location you are targeting the results. The rest of the headers must be copied and pasted through another integration and might need to work with minor changes.
- From the above codes, you have huge yet beautiful parsed information. And when you need to access specific data, instead of going through everything here, you can still proceed by filtering the results. On the python interpreter, you can add the below 33 simple lines-
my_list = parsed["results"][0]["content"]["results"]["organic"] for k in my_list: print (k["pos"], k["url"])
The only organic search with the keywords ‘proxy faq’ when you narrow down the search result will be visible here. Also, it extracts the position stating which URL you need to hold on to the results. In the language, you can see the tiny ‘0’ indicating that you have not specified the number of URLs you need to access.
Thus, expect default results but when you need more results, then proceed to write an enormous number. Then on the three simple lines added to the python interpreter, they will return the data parsed, which can range from URL 1 to 10 based on the specification you have included.
5. Scrape Google Results In Python
One of the most popular programming languages ever known among people is python. Primarily, it is often sued when you think of scraping google search results. Though perfect, other alternatives like JS are working to improve the framework to catch up with the demands on web scraping. However, python is still the leader because of the multiple built-in libraries of various operations to select from, like networking and files.
In this section, we will take you through steps to scrape data from the google search using python. And without wasting time, let us get started:-
- The first thing to do is to add the preferred package. Python has p[ackages that offer simple access to particular features and commands, saving effort and time. For instance, the urllib can handle all the URLs; requests make the HTTP networking library easier, while pandas are responsible for not only manipulating the search data and analyzing it. Such include as listed below:
import requests import urllib import pandas as pd from requests_html import HTML from requests_html import HTML Session
- After that, locate the package sources. To access the needed information, you first have to find the page source of the target URL, which in the long run indicates the page structure of the underlying URL and shows you how they have organized the data. Here is a sample function that simplifies that process in python
def find_source (url): " " "Outputs the URL's source code. Args: url (string): URL of the page to scrape. Returns: response (object): HTTP response object from requests_html. " " " try: session = HTMLSession( ) response = session.get (url) return response except requests exceptions. RequestException as e: print (e)
- Then when you are done, you can scrape the google search results. you can besides the search query using the urllib.parse.quote_plus() for effective process. however, replace the spaces with the + icon for instance list+of+best+proxies+in+2022.
After that, find-source will give you the page source. You should also note that the code: google-domains gives you the lists of the google domains you have just removed or excluded from the scraping results.
When you do not want to miss the google web page own, then consider removing it. After that, you can even try to give the scrape() function some simple sample search parameter and then proceed to run it. for instance, when you type in python, then you will have multiple search results as indicated below:
def scrape (query):
query = urilib.parse quote_plus (query)
response = find_source ("https://www.google.com/search?q=" + query
links = list (response. html.absolute_links)
google_domains = ('https://www.google.',
'https://google.',
'https://webcache.googleusercontent.',
'http://webcache.googleusercontent.',
'https://policies.google.',
'https://support.google.',
'https://maps.google.')
for url in links [:] :
if url. startswith (google_domains):
links. remove (url)
return links
- Note that google is very sensitive, and sometimes it becomes wary about letting third-party applications access the information.
This is why most companies and websites are constantly working often to change the CSS and the HTML components so that they can break the mechanism of any existing scraping patterns most people use. Some of the recent CSS values on the search page look like the below, but shortly as long as the scrapers break into them, they will change and be written back.
- css_identifier_link = “.yuRUbf a”
- css_identifier_result = “.tF2Cxc”
- css_identifier_text = “.VwiC3b”
- css_identifier_title = “h3”
In the cases where the above fails to work, then try starting the code with the page source and evaluate if the CSS is working, such as css_identifier_result, css_identifier_title, css_identifier_link, and css_identifier_text.
What About Google Official Search API?
The Google official search API is one of the interfaces the developers use to access various services of google. It paves the way for the third-party tool to interact with any company’s services and products. Thus, developers find it easy to not only just access but also to share as well as monetize the content around the world in the often used search engines.
Though it comes and disappears, the service is available as long as you are looking for the SERP data. Though, we would also state that this is not a perfect tool for scraping google search results.
The API is only made for searching a single target site or rather a tiny size group. Although it allows users to configure to search the websites, it needs much tinkering to work. For his reasons, the results you can obtain with this method are limited and less than you expect, especially when you compare it with the other methods like the above-discussed scraping tool and visual interface.
The API is expensive as 1000 requests can cost $5, leaving you poorer, which is robbery in broad daylight. Still, it limits the number of requests you can send within a day. Considering the limitations, Google search API is not something you can turn to when you want to scrape google search results. Using the above methods, trust us that you will save not just your effort but also time ad money as well as sanity.
We also feel to mention that the custom search like JSON API offers 100 queries to search per day for free. But when you want to go beyond this limit, you must have a billing method added to the API console where the additional request of 100 costs $ 5 and limits you to 10k queries within a day.
Is It Legal to Scrape Google Search Results
First, the google search results are under the publicly available data category. This means that google search scraping is a legal process. However, there is some information that you do not need to accumulate. It becomes illegal when you obtain copyrighted contents, files, or personal details without permission.
How to Scrape Google Search Results Without Being Blocked?
Not all sites accept data scraping. Even if you send multiple requests using a single IP address, some sites respond by blocking your local Ip address. Therefore, proxies, mask your local IP address in the scraper so that you can avoid such anti-bot google systems like the re-CAPTCHA and access the geo-targeted sites faster. The sites might include the UULE parameter.
Therefore, the site can easily detect your scraper if you go without utilizing relevant proxies. When you send a request, it will automatically be blocked, and the result is banning your local IP address. This lowers your request success rate, but you can also avoid blockage by paying very close attention to the targeted user agent.
Conclusion
Scraping google search results is the cornerstone of commerce in the online business today. Learning how to scrape data is just one of the steps to help you compete against your rivalries, save time, and find out how to rank high on google. In our article, we have covered multiple methods on how to scrape google search results.
It would help if you also used proxies alongside the scrapers or crawlers to be safer. Go through our suggested method and select based on the needs and type of the project you have at hand and make sure it is the method that sustains the long-time operation.
